[Rune: Purify | C-Tier. When Enchanted onto gear, it slightly reduces all negative effects on the wearer.]

[Rune: Fireball | C-Tier. When Enchanted onto a weapon, it releases a small fireball to hit the target on attack.]

Kevin read through Amelia’s info, and a huge grin split across his face.

He never expected Amelia to give him the Enchantment Talent he’d been waiting for, along with a higher Reimbursement rate.

Even though Amelia’s Reimbursement rate was only twice as high as Luna’s, it was still a big boost.

From now on, whenever Amelia got new rewards, learned new skills, or even increased her base stats, Kevin would profit 12 times from it.

"You really gave me a big surprise." Kevin gently kissed Amelia’s forehead.

Amelia, who was fast asleep, wrinkled her nose. Then, like a baby, she snuggled into Kevin’s arms, shifted her position, and went back to sleep.

Kevin didn’t disturb her further. He focused on studying his new Enchantment skill.

Amelia only knew two Enchantment Runes so far. She could put one on her gear and the other on her weapon, making a perfect combat setup.

For Amelia, this setup gave her a full-body buff against negative effects, plus at least 10 chances per day to shoot Fireball rounds.

Ten shots might not seem like much, but they could be saved up.

For normal fights, thanks to the Fireball rounds and The Fixing Gaze ability from the Ocular Barnacle, Amelia could easily handle one or two ordinary Eldritch Entities.

Kevin might find it weak, but compared to other Survivors, Amelia was definitely in the top tier.

As for Kevin, he could do 120 Enchants a day now.

That meant he could mass-produce 120 Fireball rounds.

Just by that, Kevin had a completely different approach to combat than Amelia.

Amelia was still playing like a lone gunslinger, but Kevin was different.

Through the Mechanical Sovereign skill, he could mass-produce drones that shoot bullets. He could line them up and dump a storm of Fireball-powered ammo.

That kind of firepower was enough to wipe out over a dozen Eldritch Entities head-on.

In fact, once he built up a proper drone fleet, Kevin could turn the tables and hunt down Eldritch Entities himself. And this wasn’t just a fantasy. It was totally doable.

Right now, Kevin’s bag contained a military drone, two Glock pistols, and nearly 500 rounds of 9mm ammo.

If he scanned these into blueprints, he could use materials to mass-produce them.

Thinking that, Kevin got straight to work. He rolled out of bed, walked over to his bag, and pulled out the drone he’d never used, a Glock pistol, and a box of 9mm ammo.

But the moment he started the scan, Kevin froze.

[Detected mechanical structure: "Falcon Recon Drone". Touch to scan blueprint. Scanning time: 480 minutes...]

[Mechanical Structure: Frame-type Rotary Drone]

[Required Parts: Flight propulsion system, navigation and control system, remote control and imaging sensors, airframe and gimbal...]

[Raw Materials: Resin, Iron Ingots, Silicon Ingots, Copper Ingots...]

...

[Detected mechanical structure: "9mm Pistol Ammo". Touch to scan blueprint. Scanning time: 60 minutes...]

[Mechanical Structure: 9mm Pistol Ammo]

[Required Parts: Bullet, casing, primer, gunpowder...]

[Raw Materials: Copper Ingots, Iron Ingots, Gunpowder...]

...

[Detected mechanical structure: "Glock-19 Pistol". Touch to scan blueprint. Scanning time: 120 minutes...]

[Mechanical Structure: Semi-Automatic Pistol]

[Required Parts: Barrel, rifling, striker, magazine...]

[Raw Materials: Iron Ingots, Resin, Rubber...]

... 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Even though it was just three simple items, crafting them all posed a real challenge for Kevin right now.

Forget the half-day scan time for the drone. Even gathering the raw materials needed to build these machines was out of reach for his current stage.

Realizing that, Kevin shelved his plan to build a drone army for now.

He grabbed a single bullet, held it in his palm, and started the scan.

[Begin scanning mechanical structure: 9mm Pistol Ammo.]

[Scan Progress: 0.01%... 0.02%...]

Watching the progress bar climb quickly, a faint smile tugged at the corner of Kevin’s mouth.

At least, he could solve the ammo shortage first.

Next, he took off the three pieces of gear he was wearing and applied the Purify enchantment to each one.

Right then, Amelia blinked her sleepy eyes open.

When she saw the enchantment light glowing around Kevin’s hands, her eyes widened in surprise. "Honey, how did you get the Enchantment Talent too?"

Then she suddenly sat up and asked seriously, "I’ve been wondering... why do you always have endless Holy Spring to drink?"

"Logically, Luna couldn’t produce all of that on her own. So you must have the ability to make Holy Spring too. Maybe even better than hers, right?"

Amelia’s cheeks turned slightly pink as she voiced a bold guess out loud. "So your real Talent lets you copy the abilities of women you’ve been intimate with, isn’t that right?"

"Not exactly, but you’re pretty close." Kevin didn’t deny it, but he didn’t confirm it either.

He never bothered to hide the quirks of his abilities.

Luna was smart enough to figure things out and wisely decided not to press for details.

Amelia was nothing like Luna. Her background as a cop made her naturally curious and driven to dig into the details.

Playing along, Kevin put a finger to his lips. "Keep this between us. It’s our little secret."

He handed her a bottle of Holy Spring and helped her drink it down.

Amelia rolled her eyes and sighed. "I was hoping that since you already had Luna and me, you’d stop messing around with other women. But since your Talent works like that... guess I’ll just have to help you find more partners."

With a playful smirk, she leaned in close and whispered, "How about I drag Stephanie over here and throw her on your bed later?"

Kevin had barely swallowed the first sip of Holy Spring when Amelia’s crazy suggestion made him spit it out everywhere.

Knowing how serious and no-nonsense Amelia was, Kevin was genuinely worried she’d actually drag Stephanie over. He quickly raised his hands to refuse. "Nope. I can only copy a Talent from women who are pure and kind. Someone like Stephanie, a party girl, just won’t work."

"Oh, really? I thought you were pretty interested in her. After all, she’s your girlfriend’s own younger sister," Amelia said, deliberately teasing him.

"I’m only saying this once," Kevin replied firmly. "I’ve drawn a clear line with her sister. We’re completely done. And honestly, I’m not interested in either of them."

Hearing his answer, Amelia wasn’t the least bit disappointed. If anything, she looked even happier, giggling uncontrollably.

Afraid she’d come up with some other crazy ideas, Kevin pointed toward a pile of rusty weapons in the corner. "Those are the gear and weapons the Eldritch skeletons dropped last night. Most of them are rusted or waterlogged, so they’re pretty weak now. Before it gets dark, could you take them to the World Channel and trade them?"

Amelia looked at the pile of junk and frowned. "What kind of trade do you think I’ll get for all that scrap?"

Kevin smiled and gently tugged at her torn uniform. "At least, enough for some sturdy clothes and new shoes."

Amelia glanced down and instantly covered her chest with her hands.

Their earlier encounter had been a bit too rough, and her once-snug police uniform was now ripped to shreds. It was definitely not wearing-worthy anymore.

Her face burned red. She quickly ducked toward the corner, grabbed the pile of scrap gear, and bolted into the study.

To Amelia’s surprise, even though the Eldritch skeletons’ weapons were pretty much junk, Survivors were going wild over them.

Before long, she’d already traded with other Survivors for toiletries, medicine, and clothes. Everything was brand-new and still in the original packaging.

Those Survivors sitting on stockpiles were probably just shopping at the supermarket when the Eldritch struck. All their carts full of groceries had somehow been pulled into this cursed ocean with them.

But when facing the deadly threat of Eldritch Entities, clothes and shoes couldn’t keep them safe at all.

For those Survivors, keeping those supplies that would take forever to use up wasn’t practical. Trading them for a reliable melee weapon was a much better choice.